Residents' 'nightmare' as high street shut for works

Work that has closed off a high street until November has been described as a "nightmare" by local people, but many said they understood it had to take place.

Anglian Water is installing 1km (0.6 miles) of new water pipes along the High Street in Bildeston, Suffolk, to replace ones that had come to the end of their life.

The water company said the work, which is costing £1m, will help "future proof" the local network, but a diversion around the area was adding up to 40 minutes to some people's journeys.

Mark Suttcliffe lives in the area and said visiting his mother on Newby Road in his car had become "a bit of a nightmare" due to the diversion which was adding 20 minutes to his journey.

The diversion has been signposted and will take drivers through Hitcham, Great Finborough and Stowmarket in one direction, and through Nedging Tye, Barking, Needham Market and up to Stowmarket in the other direction.

"People seem to be very understanding about why it's happening and that in the future this will be a good thing when it's done," Suttcliffe said.

"I've got to say the team that are doing it, they are prepared to stop and talk to you, and explain what they're doing, which is good."

Anne Slater works at the village's shop and post office on the High Street and said she had noticed fewer customers due to the work.

"We used to have a lot of people travelling through to work," she said.

"Normally we'd have our first customer around 06:35 BST. It might be 07:30 or 08:00 nowadays, so we've lost quite a few."

She said the diversion route had been a "very big pain" with local roads getting busy, and she had known some people to have 40 minutes added on to their journey due to the closure.

Slater also said there had been cases where their deliveries had been delayed.

Richard O'Sullivan had the works taking place in front of his house recently until they moved further up.

He said it had created a lot of dirt and noise but appreciated the work "needs to be done".

"We've had repeated water leaks over the past 10 to 15 years," he said.

"The road's been closed probably more than any other road I've ever come across, probably about 15 times a year.

"So this isn't tremendously more inconvenient than what we've been putting up with for a long, long time."

Robert Lindsay is the county councillor that represents the Bildeston area, and he lives in the village.

He stressed the work was a "necessary evil" that had to be done, and he believed most people could accept it.

"We have a very old main sewer that was put in to replace the village pump in the 1930s," he said.

"It hasn't been updated since, so it was constantly leaking, and they constantly had unplanned emergency closures in the last two years to fix the leaks.

"So this is a long closure, but in terms of the future, it's actually short-term pain for long-term gain because there won't be so many emergency closures in the future."

Lindsay added it was "hard to know" what could be done to help businesses who had noticed an impact on footfall.

Anglian Water has been approached for comment.

On its website, Ashton Carradine, customer experience specialist for the project, said there had been 30 bursts in the past five years in the village.

"We know the length and location of the project will have an impact on Bildeston, but we're keeping the local community updated about the work and would like to thank people in advance for their patience and understanding while we complete this important upgrade of the water supply network," she said.

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